Clippings Text

Clippings about the Elk Mountain DC-3 Accident

The following are Ron's hand-typed transcripts from newspaper clippings sent to him by Jackie DeCosmo of St. Petersburg Fla. Ms. DeCosmo is the niece of Corporal John D. Fedullo who perished in this crash.

Clipping #1:

BULLETIN: ELK MOUNTAIN, Wyo., Feb 1 (UP)- Fifty soldiers and other mountain climbers, using skis, snowshoes and sleds, joined today in another attempt to scale treacherous 11,125-foot Elk Mountain, where 21 persons were believed to have perished in the crash of a United Airlines Mainliner.

Clipping #2:

Plane Victim's Body Due on Island Today

Cpl. Fedullo Funeral To Be Held Monday: Overseas Veteran

The body of Cpl. John D. Fedullo, 33, Mariner's Harbor soldier who was killed with 20 other persons Jan. 31 when a transcontinental airliner crashed on Elk Mountain, Wyo., will arrive on Staten Island this afternoon with a military escort.

The funeral will be from the soldier's home at 9:30 AM Monday, with a high mass of requiem at 11 AM in the Church of the Most Precious Blood, Baxter and Canal streets, Manhattan. Burial will be in the family plot in Calvary Cemetary, Queens.

Cpl. Fedulo (sp) , a veteran of 27 months service in Australia, New Guinea, the Philippines and Japan, was flying home to rejoin his wife, Mrs. Angelina Fedullo, of the Union avenue address. He arrived in Seattle, Wash., aboard a troopship Jan. 25, and telephoned her to say he was taking a plane so that they might be reunited sooner.

It was not until Wednesday that the last body was recovered. Cpl. Fedullo's body was entrained at Cheyenne, Wyo., and accompanied by Sgt. Joseph L. Freeman to the Island.

A diet cook in the 161st Station Hospital, the soldier entered the Army Jan. 29, 1943. He wore five battle stars. Born in Manhattan, he came to the Island in 1938 and was employed as a burner in the Navy Yard, Brooklyn, before entering service. He was a graduate of Stuyvesant High School, Manhattan.

Surviving, in addition to his wife, are his father, Thomas Fedullo of Brooklyn, and two sisters, Christina and Margaret, both of Brooklyn.

Clipping #3:

HOMEBOUND VETERAN ON LOST PLANE

Mariners Harbor Resident on Way to Discharge Center After 2 Years Overseas

Cpl. John Fedullo of 235 Union avenue, Mariners Harbor, who arrived in Seattle Jan. 24 after 27 months overseas with the 161st Station Hospital, was a passenger aboard the Seattle-New York United Airlines transport reported missing near Elk Mountain, Wyo., with 21 persons aboard. < Picture of Cpl Fedullo>

The Red Cross last night notified his wife, the former Miss Angelina Mannino, that her husband had boarded the plane at Seattle, bound for Fort Dix, N.J. and discharge from the Army.

Army officials have not yet released the names of the 12 redeployed soldiers who were aboard the plane.

Cpl. Fedullo arrived in Seattle from Yokohama, Japan, aboard the SS Herald of the Morning.

Inducted into the Army Jan. 29, 1943, he took basic training at Camp Pickett, Va., and was assigned to Fort Dix before going overseas. He and his wife were married in July, 1943, in the St. Michael's Church, Mariners Harbor.

Cpl. Fedullo's father, Thomas, and two sisters live in Brooklyn. Before entering theArmy he attended Stuyvesant High School, Manhattan, and worked in the Brooklyn Navy Yard.

Clipping #4:

Bring 21 Bodies Down from Peak

ELK MOUNTAIN, Wyo., Feb. 2 (UP)- Twenty-one frozen bodies were recovered today from the icy summit of snow-swept Elk Mountain.

Mountain climbers using dogsleds and walkie-talkie radios were expected to reach the foot of the mountain with the bodies by night.

Strewn amid the wrechake (sp) of the United Air Lines plane which smashed into the mountain top early Thursday, the bodies of the victims were found late yesterday afternoon..

There were 12 servicemen, six civilian passengers and three crew members. The bodies were half-buried in snow which had fallen since the crash. Their clothing had been torn off.

Two groups ascended the mountain to recover the bodies. They were made up of mountain troops from Fort Warrerl (sp), Wyo., Civil Aeronautics Authority employes (sp), airline officials and a postal in < rest of clipping is torn away >

Clipping #5:

ELK MOUNTAIN, Wyo., Feb. 1- (UP) - A second party set out today to struggle through waist deep snow toward the peak of Elk Mountain in search of a United Airlines transport missing with 21 persons aboard.

Another rescue group was forced to turn back last night after fighting their way to within 300 yards of the mountain peak. They found no trace of the wreckage.

Members of the early party, which bucked gale-strength winds, gave up the search when their faces began freezing in the sub-zero temperatures.

Undersheriff John Terrill of Rawlins said a "terrible blizzard" had halted the party's progress as it neared the top of the 11,125-foot peak. Terrill, a man over six feet tall, described the snow as "about waist deep."

United Airlines officials in Cheyenne said a company plane would attempt a serial (sp) search of the fog-shrouded mountain top, if weather conditions permitted.

A part (sp) of soldiers from Fort Warren, near Cheyenne, also planned to join the search for the missing liner, whose passenger list included 12 soldiers being deployed from the West Coast.

Col. E.F. Boruski, Fort Warren commanding officer, warned, however, that "it might take until June" to find the wreckage if heavy snowfalls covered the plane and the bodies.

The original searchers, a band of ranchers and sheriff's officials, climbed into the clouds yesterday afternoon shortly after an airlines official reported sighting a "slash or scar in the snow" on the north-west slope of the mountain.

The ship, carrying 12 soldiers, six civilians an three crew members, radioed a routine progress report from over Sinclair, Wyo., at 4:40 AM (EST) yesterday and was not heard from again.

The plane was flying from Seattle to New York and made its last stop at Boise, Ida., where it picked up Mr. and Mrs. George A. Bender, enroute to their home in Sheffield, Ill., after their wedding two days before. It had been due in Denver at 6:20AM (EST).

A heavy fog hid the mountaintop and strong winds whipped the faces of anxious persons waiting at the foot for news of the plane and possible survivors. The Cheyenne Weather Bureau estimated that temperatures were about eight below during the night on the peak.

In addition to the Benders, the passenger list included Robert S. Pirie, New York, H.R. Glover, Vancouver, Wash., Mrs. E.H. Blake, Richland, Wash., and William Petracek, New York.

Walter P. Briggs, veteran airline pilot, was captain of the ship. First Officer was Harry M. Atlass and the stewardess, Dorothy Carter, 22. All were based in Portland.

Names of the servicemen were withheld pending notification of next-of-kin.

Clipping #6:

Blizzard Hides Fate Of 21 in Lost Plane

Elk Moutain (sp), Wyo., Feb. 1 (UP)- The fate of 21 persons aboard a wrecked United Air Lines transcontinental transport plane was locked tonight in the icy grip of a blizzard whistling around an 11,125-foot peak.

If any of the passengers and crew sirvived the crash early yesterday, the chance of their withstanding the subzero cold atop the peak was slim.

Climbers, defeated once in an attempt to scale rugged Elk Mountain, were fighting towards the crest of the towering peak.

At least one group of searchers was expected to reach the area considered the crash site by night. What Hicks' party finds probably will not be known until daybreak tomorrow

Also organized for the search was a contingent of skilled mountain troops from Port (sp) Francis E. Warren, near Cheyenne, as well as sheriff's officers and ranchers.

On way to New York The Douglas transport plane, which carried 12 members of the armed forces and six civilian possengers, plus the crew of three, was last reported over Sinclair, Wyo., en route to Denver from Boise, Ida. on its flight from Seattle to New York.

Elk Mountain, according to pilots, is known for its violent air current turbulences, whic sometimes extend as much as 2,000 feet above and to the east.

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Syracuse, Feb 1 (UP) - Pvt Harry A. Flack, son of Mr. and Mrs. C.H. Flack of Syracuse, was a passenger aboard the plane believed to have crashed on Elk Mountain, Wyo., his parents were informed by a Ward Department telegram last night.

The Soldier was en route to Fort Dix, NJ for discharge from the Army, his parents said.

Clipping #7:

Dogsleds to Return Airliner Dead

ELK MOUNTAIN, Wyo., Feb 2. Two parties prepared to scale Elk Mountain today to bring down on dogsleds and toboggans the bodies of 21 persons killed when a United Air Lines plane crashed on the snow-covered peak early Thursday.

The bodies and wreckage of the Seattle-to-New York plane were found 10,000 feet up on the slopes of the 11,162-foot mountain by a ground party late yesterday. Members of the party found the bodies scattered over a wide area and the plane disintegrated but found no indications that the plane burned.

The first group was scheduled to blaze a trail to the wreckage and investigate the crash. It was headed by Lewis T. Long, engineering superintendent for United Air Lines at Cheyenne, and included Peter R. Gallagher, a postal inspector from Cheyenne, and a Civil Aeronautics Authority official.

The second group was to leave with 11 army-trained Alaskan huskies brought here from Fort Robinson, Nebr., to bring back the bodies on doglseds and toboggans.

Clipping #8:

Recover 20 Plane Dead; One Body Still on Peak

Elk Mountain, Wyo., Feb. 3 (AP) - Searchers late today recovered three more bodies from the snow-covered waste atop Elk Mountain, where a United Air Lines plane crash claimed the lives of 21 persons early Thursday morning.

This brought to 20 the number of victims recovered. Airline officias said another searching party would scale the icy peak tomorrow in an effort to locate the one remaining body, that of a soldier.

Soldier Victims' Names Revealed

Fort Warren, Wyo., Feb. 2 (UP)-- Col E.F.Boruski, commanding officer of Fort Warrin in the temporary absence of Big. Gen. H.L. Whittaker, has announced the names of eight soldiers killed in the Elk Mountais plane crash.

The victims:

John D. Fedullo, husband of Mrs. Angelina Fedullo, 235 Union Ave., Mariners Harbor, Staten Island, NY

Harry A. Flack, son of Mrs. Ruth S. Flack, Syracuse, NY

Murray Detinko, son of Mrs. Detinko, 440 E. 105th St., New York City

Bernard T. Creswell, son of Mrs. Mary Creswell, Troy NY

Fred L. Grand, son of Mrs. Anna Brown, 2468 Seventh Ave. New York City.

James F. Johnson, son of Mrs Johanna Johnson, 504 W. 134th St., New York City

Edmund G. Klass, son of Walter Klass, 197 Stevens Ave., Mt. Vernon, NY

Jack V. Gulisano, husband of Mrs. Sophia Gulisano, 104-32 38th Ave, Corona, NY

Identification was made today at the scene of the crash.

(pictures on page 1) < pictures not in clippings >

< Mrs. DeCosmo provided several other clippings but these do not contain new info >

Home Moggie!

Last Modified: 1/1/2008